Basic Concepts and Conventions of Financial Accounting

If you bill $20,000 of services in a month, in order to accurately represent the income for the month you must report the expenses you incurred while generating that income in the same month. Accounting assumes that an entity will continue to operate indefinitely. This concept implies that financial statements do not represent a company’s worth if its assets were to be liquidated, but rather that the assets will be used in future operations. This concept also allows businesses to spread the cost of an asset over its expected useful life.

For example, Asset accounts have sub-accounts like current assets and fixed assets, Liability accounts have Current Liabilities and Long-term Liabilities and so on. Underlying accounting concepts are also known as accounting assumptions. One assumption is that the business and the owners’ records be kept separate since the business is its own entity. Another is the going concern concept, which fundamental accounting assumes the business will continue to be in business in the future. Another is that there is one stable currency in which records will be recorded. The last is that information be recorded and prepared in a fixed time period, such as quarterly or annually. This means that the same accounting principles and standards are to be followed by all the entities in preparing financial statements.

Accounting period

Accounting information system main concepts are process,… Explain the basic concepts of an accounting information system. Another very important concept is accounting profit and loss. The “Generally Accepted Accounting Principles” or GAAP is followed internationally to prepare financial statements. The most common format used in accounting is the T-accounts. In the T-account format, debits are kept on the left side and credits are kept on the right side and the total account balance is calculated at the bottom. Liabilities refer to the amount of money owed to another institution or company or person.

Therefore, the going concern concept by assuming that the business will not liquidate in the foreseeable future states that the firm should record the machinery’s value for its estimated life span. Let’s say, the life span of the said machinery is 10 years. Now, the firm may charge ₹10,000 for 10 years from the profit and loss account. Theory Base of Accounting consists of accounting concepts, principles, rules, guidelines, and standards that help an individual in understanding the basics of accounting.

Principles of Financial Accounting:

Technically speaking, “for every debit, there is a credit”. Therefore, we can say that every debit must have a corresponding credit and vice versa. In a healthy accounting culture, accounting professionals foster trust. In business, trust is the cornerstone of all relationships with customers, suppliers, https://www.bookstime.com/ employees, shareholders and the community. For accounting graduates, there is a need for a digital and data-driven mindset along with the use of analytics and data visualization to effectively convey information. This requires a solid knowledge of technology, data analytics and automation.